How to Temporarily Remove the Last Commit with Git?

Question

Suppose I have the following git commits:

1. aaaaaa
2. bbbbbb
3. cccccc (the latest)

I would like to go back to bbbbbb and continue the development from there. Essentially, I want to remove cccccc for now and be able to retrieve it in the future (I know I'd still need the cccccc). Should I revert cccccc or rollback to bbbbbb?

Answer 1

Just do:

git checkout -b dev_on_b bbbbbbb

which will leave the branch with cccccc alone and give you a new branch starting from bbbbbb. When you want to return to using ccccc you can do either of:

git merge branch_with_cccccc          # bring cccccc into dev_on_b

or

git checkout branch_with_ccccc

Answer 2

Just do

git branch for_later
git reset --hard bbbbbb

Of course, don't do this if cccccc is already pushed. In that case, use revert.